Beccles - a brief visit

Beccles town is made up of small market squares and winding streets nestled by the River Waveney. It is a town that I have heard of, but never visited. The only reason for this overnight stay was to have a base for Rosey to do part of her walk challenge.

We had booked an overnight stay in the Waveney Hotel which was beautiful, not only for the hotel itself but its gorgeous position beside the River Waveney and the spectacular church opposite. We will definitely go again!

A view of the hotel from the church grounds with the river and barges behind

My view as I sat and had breakfast.

The church of St Michael the Archangel, opposite the Hotel, is a magnificent medieval building sited on a high scarp over looking the river Waveney. It has been at the centre of the life of the town since its foundation in 1369 and is still a thriving parish church.

In 1749 Edmund Nelson, who had previously been a curate at St Michael's, married Catherine Suckling, from nearby Barsham, in St Michael's. Edmund was by then Rector of a parish in Norfolk. They became the parents of Admiral Lord Horatio Nelson.`

The huge Beccles Bell Tower, viewed from the south porch of the church

St Michael’s goes way back to about 1350 and was built by the Abbott of Bury St Edmunds no less. Long before that, there was a Saxon church, probably on the same site, that served this thriving fishing port.

The church was built first, without a tower, but in the early 16th century, in a display of piety, power and civic pride, the great square belfry was built to the south east. Solid, faced in stone and lined in brick, it rises almost 100 ft above the street. The parapet was never built; the Reformation intervened. But why was it built here at all? 

The obvious, and usual place, at the west end of the nave, is marshy, and the ground falls away to the river. And another reason possibly is that its actual location is grander and more prominent, set on the side of the former market place. 

By the middle of the 20th Century, the parish found it difficult to afford its upkeep, and in the 1970s it was sold off to the Borough for the nominal sum of one penny.

Now, if St Michael did not have its great bell tower, it would perhaps still be famous for its south porch which dominates the whole of the south side, rising above the south aisle on two storeys. One of the biggest medieval porches in all Suffolk

The other interesting feature of the south side is rather curious. This is the small castellated porch to the chancel door. Above it, a now blocked doorway leads onto the parapet, an outdoor pulpit, apparently?

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Mistley - short walk with Gill Moon

When Gill offered this morning walk with coffee and cake at the end, who could resist? As it was, the morning was misty and atmospheric over the river, and then onto a walk through the woods. So, a few images I managed of the morning.

Being by the river side, the morning mist was still lingering over the water, while everywhere was tranquil and quiet.

Looking up river, the clouds appeared black and threatening, making the autumnal colours somewhat muted. Having walked along the waterfront past Mistley Towers, we entered Mistley woods.

This was called `old knobble` and was certainly gnarled and broken. Also, very old I would say.

Another old tree in the woods which was very deformed.

Some autumnal colours beside the road on our way back to our start.

Being Remembrance Sunday, a short service was being held beside the memorial. Back at the start we were treated to hot coffee and cake - lovely! Thanks Gill and Simon.

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The riverside town of Woodbridge

Woodbridge is one of those places where you never mind going back. Well I don`t anyway! It has history, by the bucketful, and beautiful walks by the river Deben. Here are some images of a couple of visits, starting with the iconic view of Woodbridge, the Tide Mill.

But before moving down to look at the images, a bit of history. 

The earliest record of Woodbridge dates from the mid-10th century, when it was acquired by St Aethelwold, Bishop of Winchester, who made it part of the endowment of the monastery that he helped to refound at Ely, Cambridgeshire in AD 970.The Domesday Book of 1086 describes Woodbridge as part of the Loes Hundred. Much of Woodbridge was granted to the powerful Bigod family, who built the famous castle at Framlingham. (Thats for another day)

The town has been a centre for boat-building, rope-making and sail-making since the Middle Ages. Edward III and Sir Francis Drake had fighting ships built in Woodbridge. The town suffered in the plague of 1349, but recovered enough, with encouragement from the Canons, and growing general prosperity, to have a new church (now St Mary's, behind the buildings on the south side of Market Hill) constructed with limestone from the Wash and decorated with Thetford flint. By the mid-15th century the Brews family had added a tower and porch.

On 12 October 1534, Prior Henry Bassingbourne confirmed Henry VIII's supremacy over the Church and rejected the incumbent "Roman Bishop". Nonetheless, Woodbridge Priory was dissolved three years later. 

As religious unrest continued in the reign of the Roman Catholic Mary Tudor, Alexander Gooch, a weaver of Woodbridge, and Alice Driver of Grundisburgh were burnt for heresy on Rushmere Heath. Alice previously had her ears cut off for likening Queen Mary to Jezebel. The subsequent religious settlement under Elizabeth I helped Woodbridge industries such as weaving, sail-cloth manufacture, rope-making and salt making to prosper, along with the wool trade. The port was enlarged, and shipbuilding and timber trade became very lucrative, so that a customs house was established in 1589. 

Now for some images.

The first record of a tide mill here on the River Deben is in 1170. A tide mill has stood in Woodbridge for over 800 years, using the green energy of the tide to drive a huge waterwheel, grinding an authentic stone-ground wholemeal flour. It demonstrates over 800 years of English technological and cultural heritage from Norman times to date. The present mill was built in 1793 and its massive working machinery displays the skills and achievements of the early Industrial Revolution. 

When it closed in 1957, it was the last commercially working tide mill in the UK; now fully restored, so that today it is a unique ‘living’ museum. It is spread over three floors, featuring an introductory video, unique computer generated imagery (CGI) to show how grain and flour move around the mill, interactive models, audio stations, and superbly illustrated exhibition panels. 

The Mill is dependent on the tides and heights of the tide, but the machinery can turn most days although at different times. Milling can only take place when both aspects of the tides are right, but usually several times a month. 

It is one of Suffolk’s most iconic buildings and a visit to Woodbridge is incomplete without the photo! 

Boats moored nearby in the marina.

Ye Olde Bell and Steelyard Pub is a black and white timber frame building on New Street. The cage on the side of the pub houses is the Steelyard or weighing machine that was the forerunner to the public weighbridge. The steelyard was introduced after the government passed a Road Traffic Act introducing a toll for carts carrying loads over 2.5 tons to protect road surfaces from damage from their steel banded wheels. According to local records this steelyard was added to the original pub around 1680. I believe it is one of only two in the country.

Unfortunately, in 2018 it was destroyed by a rogue lorry

Originally built by Thomas Seckford, the upper part of the Shire Hall was used for judicial purposes while the ground floor served as an open corn market. Many changes followed over the intervening centuries, notably the addition of Flemish gabling and stone capping in the 17th Century and the bricking up of the archways in the early 19th Century. However, the Hall continued to serve in a judicial capacity until recent times, maintaining a link with the Elizabethan era.

The beautiful Grade I Listed Shire Hall building is now owned by Woodbridge Town Council and located in the centre of the Market Hill. 

Thomas Seckford is one of the famous sons of Woodbridge. 

Born near Woodbridge, Suffolk, England, Seckford was educated at Cambridge, and in 1540 entered Gray's Inn. Thomas became one of Queen Elizabeth I’s two Masters in Ordinary of the Court of Requests (from 1558 probably until death) which dealt with poor men’s causes. One of the duties of this post was to accompany the monarch as she journeyed around her realm. He would thus have been particularly known to the Queen. He is believed to have played a prominent part in arranging the Elizabethan Church Settlement. In 1564, she sold him the manor of Woodbridge, including the site of Woodbridge Priory, and he became a benefactor to both the church and town. He was junior Knight of the Shire (MP) for Suffolk in 1571. 

He was an MP for Ripon in November 1554, for Orford in 1555 and 1558, for Ipswich in 1559, 1563 and 1572 and for Suffolk in 1571. 

Elizabeth is known to have held court at the Seckford family seat, Seckford Hall. 

In 1574 Thomas commissioned Christopher Saxton to survey all the English counties and produce an atlas of the realm. This was published in 1579, the first ever done from an actual survey. Elizabeth granted him a patent for its sole publication for ten years. 

He founded seven almshouses in Woodbridge in 1586 which he endowed with an income of £112 13s 4d (£112.66p) per year from land in Clerkenwell, Middlesex. He also paid for the old Woodbridge Abbey to be rebuilt. His wealth is still benefiting Woodbridge today. 

He died in 1587 aged 72, never having had children, and was buried in a chapel on the north side of St. Mary's Church which is now an organ chamber. His coat of arms can be seen in the north window of the west wall of the church. 

Buttrum's Mill or Trott's Mill is a Grade II listed tower mill at Woodbridge, Suffolk, England which has been restored to working order 

It was built in 1836 by John Whitmore, the Wickham Market millwright, replacing an earlier post mill. The mill was run for many years by the Trott family, for whom it was built, and later by the Buttrum family. 

It worked by wind until 11 October 1928. The shutters were removed from the sails in 1934 and stored in the mill. The mill was bought at auction in 1937 by Mr Kenney, a mill enthusiast. The fantail was blown off in the 1940s, damaging the cap. A lease on the mill was granted to East Suffolk County Council in 1950. The council aimed to preserve an example of each main type of windmill. The derelict mill was restored from 1952 by Thomas Smithdale and Sons, the Acle, Norfolk millwrights for East Suffolk County Council. The work, costing £4,000 was completed in 1954. It was part funded by the Pilgrim Trust. The wrought iron gallery round the cap was replaced with a wooden one. A new cap and fantail was built. The fantail was damaged in a gale in December 1966 and in 1973 a new stock and sail were fitted. In the late 1970s, further restoration work was carried out by Millwrights International Ltd. A new cap was craned onto the mill in 1982 and new sails were fitted in 1984. 

I am sure that there is a lot more to see in the area and think that another visit is needed! 

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